Ohio State football | After spring game, Joe Burrow's future up in the air

Bill Rabinowitz The Columbus Dispatch @brdispatch

Sunday

Apr 15, 2018 at 7:03 PMApr 15, 2018 at 7:32 PM

If it was the last pass Joe Burrow ever throws in Ohio Stadium, he left with a beauty.

On the final play of Saturday’s Ohio State spring game, Burrow dropped back and unleashed a perfectly thrown ball to Demario McCall in tight coverage for a 42-yard touchdown.

It was the kind of throw that some questioned whether Burrow could make when he signed with the Buckeyes four years ago. Now there should be no doubt.

But that doesn’t mean he will be Ohio State’s starting quarterback in the fall, though he could be. Coach Urban Meyer hasn’t tipped his hand which way he’s leaning in the three-way quarterback derby with Burrow, Dwayne Haskins Jr. and Tate Martell, though Martell is clearly the long shot.

Meyer will meet with offensive coordinators Ryan Day and Kevin Wilson in the coming days. They will pore over the data. Meyer said everything — everything — has been documented the past few months.

But data won’t determine the decision. Meyer will.

And then Burrow will make his. The OSU Scholar-Athlete has loaded up on classes and is on track to graduate in June with a degree in consumer and family financial services. As a graduate, he’ll have earned the right to transfer to another school and be able to play immediately instead of sitting out a year.

“That’s something I wanted to have on the table in case it didn’t work out here,” Burrow said after the spring game.

Make no mistake, Burrow would prefer to stay at Ohio State. He is popular among teammates. He is invested in the program.

“It would be really hard for me to leave,” Burrow said. “I’ve put so much into this, my heart and soul into this. If I were to leave, it would be pretty devastating for me.”

But he also said that he didn’t come to Ohio State to sit on the bench for four years. He was J.T. Barrett’s backup in 2016 and was competing with Haskins for that job last year when he broke a bone in his throwing hand late in training camp.

Then Haskins led Ohio State to its comeback win at Michigan after Barrett was injured. As a result, he was presumed to have an edge in the competition for the starting job in 2018. Only Meyer and the coaching staff know where it stands now.

Meyer said his decision will be based on “what’s best for Ohio State and what’s best for those players.” That may not be the same thing. The Buckeyes clearly would like Burrow to stay. Burrow wants to play.

He acknowledged that he wondered before the offseason whether he would truly get a fair shot at the job. He said Saturday that he has.

“I was very happy with how they handled it,” Burrow said.

He is pleased with how he played this spring.

“I think this spring I played just about as well as I could,” Burrow said. “I put everything I had into it.”

Now he will wait for the coaches’ evaluation and then decide what to do. If he’s told he’s unlikely to be the starter, it might be an easy decision.

If he’s told the race is still too close to call, it becomes tougher.

“I would have to have conversations with my family and coaches and my friends that I’m close to, and I’d have to make a decision,” Burrow said.

If he leaves, Burrow would be highly coveted as a quarterback with the intelligence, leadership and ability to play immediately. In that sense, he has already achieved more than some skeptics imagined a few years ago.

“I’ve heard for three years that I’m never going to play here, I’m going to end up transferring, I’m not good enough to play here,” Burrow said. “I just sit back and put my nose to the grindstone and work. That’s what I’ve done for three years, and I think I’ve come a long way.”

The touchdown pass at the end of the spring game — his second long one of the game to McCall — was proof. He finished 15 of 22 for 238 yards.

“That’s really where I’ve excelled in my game the last two years — putting the deep ball on the money,” Burrow said. “I could only throw it 50-60 yards a couple years ago, and I can throw it pretty far now.”

It was telling that when Meyer was asked Saturday about Haskins’ impressive arm, he cited Burrow in his answer.

“Joe has to be one of the most improved quarterbacks as far as delivery speed and arm,” Meyer said. “He’s always been a very smart, tough guy and a very good leader. His improvement is very notable over the last couple years. I think they both have very good arms.”

The question is: Will both of those arms remain on the Ohio State roster in the fall?

brabinowitz@dispatch.com

@brdispatch

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